ABSTRACT
Large-scale defense projects, particularly if they hold potential risks for the siting area, may be more applicable. One such project that may be particularly applicable to the community response issues related to repositories is the MX missile system. This chapter provides a description of community response to the early proposals for MX siting in Utah and Nevada, delineates the factors which appear to have affected the nature of that response, and suggests how such factors are likely to be paralleled in nuclear repository siting. It presents a brief overview of the MX system's characteristics and the potential impacts it would have had on the rural areas in Utah and Nevada where it was to be located. The chapter presents a description of the patterns of community mobilization that occurred in Utah and Nevada in response to the MX system. It describes the parallels between patterns of community response to the MX and those likely to be important in repository siting.
